Haast. — Researches in Sumner Moa Cave. Gl 



to fur seal and sea leopard, portions of the Maori dog, all evidently from tlieir 

 kitchen middens ; bones of fish, without exception, belonging to Oligorus gigas, 

 the hapuku ; also, bones of small birds, of which the enumeration will be found 

 in the lists attached to this memoir ; of the latter, those of Graculus puncfatus, 

 the spotted shag, were the most numerous. 



Works of human industry were not wanting, as we obtained pieces of 

 timber evidently worked and planed down by polished stone implements, and. 

 upon one of which a coating of red colour was still visible. Amongst the 

 other objects made of wood hitherto exhumed were — 



1. Several pieces of " toa," a thiii and long wooden spear made of tawa 

 {Nesodaphne tawa), a tree which grows only in the northern part of the 

 Northern Island. This spear is used by the Maoris for shooting birds. For 

 this purpose, they form, as it were, a short tube around it with the one hand, 

 through which, after taking proper aim, they jerk the thin spear up suddenly 

 wdth the other. 



2. A patuaruhe, or fernroot beater, made of maire {Santalum cunning- 

 hamii), another strictly Northern Island tree. 



3. The greatest portion of a whakakai, a wooden dish made of pukatea 

 [Atherosperma novce-zealandioi), used for placing fat birds in so as not to lose 

 the oil, or for the preparation of the juice of the tupakihi (Coriaria ruscifolia). 



4. Several large pawa shells {Haliotis iris), in which the holes near the 

 exterior border are filled with the fibres of flax or ti leaves, thus forming a 

 vessel for the preservation of oil and other liquids. 



5. A fishhook [matoa), used for catching hapuku, made from the wood of 

 the kaikaiatua {Rhahdothainnus solandri) another Northern Island tree. 



6. A long slender switch, of which part was broken off", and having at the 

 other side a notch for tying. This is called a tokai made of aka, one of the 

 Met7'osideros or rata species. It is used to keep the entrance of a fishing net open. 



7. Another piece was recognised as a takaorekaka — a parrot perch made 

 of pukatea. 



8. Several pieces belonging to a canoe, such as the puru (two specimens), 

 made of manuka {Lep)tospermum scop)ariur)i), used to stop the holes in a large 

 canoe, for letting the water out j and a square piece of wood, made of totara 

 {Podocarpus totara), called tahatikiwhaka, used to fasten the sides of a canoe. 



9. Also, portions of a matiha, or fighting spear, made of manuka, and 

 several other wooden implements.* 



* I owe a great deal of this information to Hone Taahu and Tamati Ngakahii, two 

 skilful Maori artificers of the Ngatiporou tribe, Poverty Bay, Northern Island, who, for 

 some months past, have been occupied at the Canterbury Museum with the necessary 

 preparations for the erection of a Maori house, carved and painted in the original style 

 of ancient Maori art, now fast dying out. As they come from a part of New Zealand 

 where the ancient native customs have been retained longest, their information may be 

 considered very reliable. 



